Great start for Emilia 4 racing along the American western trails

Jul 16, 2018

With a heart of champions, the Solar Wave team is keeping head to head with none other than the Minnesota University team, one of the toughest “home” teams. Great start of the American Solar Challenge for Emilia 4, the first four-seater solar-powered cruiser to be produced in Italy, developed and built by the University of Bologna with the support of Scm Group and its Cms Advanced Materials Division. Emilia 4 is one of only four “special” cars still competing in the race – a 3,500 Km drive along the Oregon Trail, one of the most historically famous roads across the American West.

What’s important here is not merely to run but to reach the finish line while consuming energy and charging the batteries less than others. The winner will be the car that will have traveled a greater distance with the greater number of passengers on board – and regarding this requirement the University of Bologna car enjoys a prior advantage, being a 4-seater – and the lesser number of battery charges – where Emilia 4 is also ahead with its battery whose capacity is double that of the Minnesota car. The race is still long and the rough roads across the old American West are bound to offer unexpected difficulties.

But the “Made in Italy” car has a determined team and a unique technology behind it, which have been praised even by top solar power experts such as the rector of the University of Michigan, whose team is one of the strongest in the world in this field, and the organizers of the World Solar Challenge, a prestigious Australian competition.